memeorandum: Despite declining popularity, Coleman comfortable in Senate re-election bid (Minnesota Public Radio)

2:10 PM ET, May 15, 2007

Top Items:

Comey Details White House Attempt to Force Approval of Secret Program — In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey detailed the desperate late night efforts by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and White House chief …

Discussion: Think Progress, Balkinization, The Anonymous Liberal, MotherJones.com, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, The Volokh Conspiracy and Hullabaloo

Emptywheel / Firedoglake:

Comey SJC Testimony, Liveblog — Click here for the SJC Webcast here. — Chuck Schumer and Pat Leahy snuck Jim Comey in to testify before SJC today (not really-it just didn't get much publicity). I'm glad they did, though, because SJC has been a lot more fun to watch than HJC.

Discussion: Eschaton

Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press:
Gonzales: Deputy was pointman on firings

Discussion: Happy Furry Puppy Story …, Los Angeles Times, The Carpetbagger Report and PoliBlog (TM)

Looseheadprop / Firedoglake:
Fingerprints — Last week Keith Olberman reported a story …

Discussion: The Blue State

Joseph Carroll / Gallup Poll:

Congress Approval Down to 29%; Bush Approval Steady at 33% — Both ratings are slightly lower than 2007 averages — PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Poll finds continued low levels of public support for both Congress and President George W. Bush. Twenty-nine percent of Americans approve of Congress …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Power Line, Hot Air, Redstate, The Moderate Voice, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The Jawa Report, Chicago Tribune, Outside The Beltway, Secular Blasphemy, Althouse, Don Surber, First Draft, Blue Crab Boulevard, Macsmind, Flopping Aces, QandO and Jules Crittenden

Byron York / National Review:
Poll: Congress 29, Bush 33

Discussion: News Bloggers Blog and Right Wing News

Richard Adams / Guardian:

Angry Wolfowitz in four-letter tirade — An angry and bitter Paul Wolfowitz poured abuse and threatened retaliations on senior World Bank staff if his orders for pay rises and promotions for his partner were revealed, according to new details published last night.

Discussion: The Washington Note and The Next Hurrah

The Atlantic Online:

Yes, Hypocrisy Matters — It's no surprise to see that James Kirchick, assistant to New Republic editor in chief Martin Peretz, shares his patron's passion for the cause of keeping Paul Wolfowitz in office at the World Bank. Kirchick says Wolfowitz's critics are making baseless charges …

Peter S. Goodman / Washington Post:
Bank Rebukes Wolfowitz On Ethics

Discussion: The American Mind, Associated Press, Majikthise, Shakesville, Comments From Left Field, American Thinker, Chicago Tribune, DownWithTyranny!, Fausta's blog and On Deadline

Associated Press:

Falwell reportedly found unconscious, hospitalized … LYNCHBURG, Virginia (AP) — The Rev. Jerry Falwell was hospitalized in "gravely serious" condition after being found unconscious in his office Tuesday, a Liberty University executive said. — Ron Godwin, the executive vice president …

Discussion: Hot Air and Balloon Juice

MSNBC:

Falwell in 'gravely serious' condition — Evangelical leader was found in his university office — LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell — founder of the Moral Majority and the face of the religious right in the 1980s — was in "gravely serious" condition Tuesday after being found unconscious …

Discussion: Think Progress

Mark Kleiman / The RBC:

Godwin's law and the New Right — I know that supporters of the currently ruling coalition of crooks, warmongers, torturers, incompetents, and theocrats are deeply, deeply hurt when they and their pet politicians are compared to Nazis. But could someone suggest to them — politely …

Discussion: Right Wing News and World-O-Crap

Southpaw / The Atlantic Online:

Der Dolchstoss — For those who prefer their rightwing-media-acting-like- nazis to be super-explicit, here's a recent Investor's Business Daily cartoon I saw thanks to Mark Kleiman: — Way back in May 2004 I had an early piece on the development of this theme in the conservative press and the conservative blogosphere.

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
STAB IN THE BACK....Back in February, Michael Ramirez published …

Discussion: Comments From Left Field

Ryan Sager / Latest Politics:

Romney's South Carolina Embarrassment — There are two interesting things about the most recent poll out of South Carolina, done by Ayres McHenry & Associates: 1) Mitt Romney is in a weak fifth place, despite a massive effort in the state (though he is still ahead of Lindsay Lohan), and 2) …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Heading Right and Liberal Values

Aaron Gould Sheinin / The State:
'All you can do is just try and get your message out'

Discussion: Washington Post, Boston Globe and The Caucus

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Top GOP Hopefuls Keep Distance on Immigration

Discussion: The Politico, Heading Right, Los Angeles Times, Captain's Quarters, ParaPundit, Wonkette and AMERICAblog

Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:

Bloomberg poised for third-party campaign — New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is prepared to spend an unprecedented $1 billion of his own $5.5 billion personal fortune for a third-party presidential campaign, personal friends of the mayor tell The Washington Times.

Discussion: Reason Magazine, TIME, Attytood, Taegan Goddard's …, Liberal Values, PoliPundit.com, Riehl World View and Don Surber

John Podhoretz / National Review:
The Silly Story of the Day... ...is that Michael Bloomberg …

Discussion: TIME: Swampland

Washington Post:

A Casualty Of War: MySpace — U.S. Military Blocks Popular Web Sites, Cutting Ties to Home — The Defense Department began blocking access on its computers to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other Web sites yesterday, severing some of the most popular ties linking U.S. troops in combat areas …

Discussion: Redstate, TAPPED, Danger Room, Washington Monthly, Comments From Left Field, Think Progress, TechRepublican.com and The Democratic Daily

Damien Cave / New York Times:

Qaeda Group Calls Hunt for Soldiers Pointless — The search for three missing American soldiers abducted after an attack south of Baghdad continued Monday as the Qaeda group that claimed responsibility for the ambush said the soldiers would never be found. — "What you are doing searching …

Discussion: Time, Associated Press, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit, Jules Crittenden and POLITOPICS

Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:

A Question Of Race Vs. Class — Barack Obama doesn't think anyone should cut his two daughters any slack when they apply to college — not because of their race, at least. In the unlikely event that the Obama family goes broke, then maybe. — In an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Captain's Quarters, The Gun Toting Liberal™, POLITOPICS and Booker Rising

Matthew Felling / CBS News:

Fox News Declines C-SPAN's Request To Carry Debate — If you're interested in catching Fox News Channel's GOP Presidential Debate tonight, you better make a point of tuning in or TiVo'ing it. Unlike the two earlier debates hosted by MSNBC, you won't be able to find the debate anyplace else on the TV or radio dial.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, PrezVid and Fox News

Brian MacQuarrie / Boston Globe:

Son of professor opposed to war is killed in Iraq — Boston University professor Andrew J. Bacevich has been a persistent, vocal critic of the Iraq war, calling the conflict a catastrophic failure. This week, the retired Army lieutenant colonel received the grim news that his son had been killed on patrol there.

Discussion: DefenseLINK, The Washington Note, Prairie Weather, Wizbang, Balloon Juice and National Review